Small businesses, at a certain point, will come to realize the essence and need to incorporate a better payment solution that caters to the needs of their customers. With the world going digital, not many people carry cash around anymore and this calls for business owners to meet their customers half-way by providing a suitable payment option that processes their card payments.
For business owners to be able to support, accept, and process card payments, there is a need for a merchant account and a reliable merchant account provider.
Businesses understand that making a choice like this can be hard, especially as the choice could either significantly boost their operations and performance or cause them to lose a few customers due to the poor services from the merchant account provider.
To ensure that you do not make mistakes when selecting a merchant account provider, you will need all of the information that you can get to facilitate the selection of the best merchant account and provider.
Virtual Merchant has put together this resource to help you through the selection process.
What is a merchant account provider?
As a business owner looking to add a better payment option for customers, it is common that you may wonder what a merchant account provider is.
First off, merchant accounts are needed for the processing of credit card payments from customers into your business. Consider a merchant account to be a type of bank account that allows you to obtain payment for goods and services purchased by the customers. The money in your merchant account can thereafter be paid out into any bank account of your choosing.
Having understood what a merchant account is, it makes it a lot easier to see a merchant account provider as the institution that is providing the banking solution to businesses.
With a merchant account, you can rest assured that all payments made via credit cards will be credited into your business account while the merchant collects the money after the customer has paid their credit card debt.
What You Should Know About Merchant Account Providers
– Merchant Account Provider Fee
There is a fee associated with holding a merchant account. Seeing as the provider is fronting the money for your business thus saving you the time and energy required to collect the money at a later date when the customer pays their credit card debt, the provider also takes a cut of the amount paid into your account.
On top of transaction fees, the merchant account provider may also charge additional fees which may either be a flat rate, tiered transaction fee, or interchange-plus transaction fee. Usually, the merchant considers a number of factors including the size of the business, the risks associated with the industry, monthly or annual credit transactions, and more.
Choosing A Merchant Account For Your Business
There are many options to choose from, however, the selection process can be time-consuming and overwhelming. To prevent this, below are some of the recommended options to consider;
– Fattmerchant
While operating merchant accounts, this company has also gone the extra mile to offer businesses a range of POS terminals to facilitate payment collection. With Fattmerchant, business owners can enjoy a wide range of POS options including hardware and software options like developer API, mobile POS reader, physical hardware, eCommerce shopping carts, virtual terminal for online orders, and more.
Fattmerchant has a range of products and services and offers a 24/7 customer support service to customers who wish to learn more or those who have run into any form of problem using their services.
Be prepared to enjoy a $0.80 transaction fee on all payments made.
– Payment Depot
Payment Depot is a choice for many businesses because of the company’s transparent pricing policy. With its pricing and services listed on its website, business owners can easily view the website to learn more about whether the company is right for them or not.
Payment Depot charges a flat rate, monthly membership fee and offers the lowest transaction fees in exchange. Businesses can rest assured that they won’t have to worry about price markups with Payment Depot.
In addition to its transparent pricing policy, the company also offers Clover POS and Verifone equipment which is the best among credit card processing terminals currently available on the market.
– Payline Data
Based in Chicago, Payline Data offers simple pricing plans that are based on how the business accepts payments. The merchant account provider offers two plans that feature interchange-plus pricing while also clearly stating what is charged across the four major credit card issuers.
Businesses will have access to full information on the amount charged on each of the credit card issuer’s transactions on the company’s website.
